New readers thirsty for series fiction will look forward to more stories about Jasmine and her family.
Eight-year-old Japanese-American Jasmine Toguchi is tired of having to follow in the footsteps of her older sister, Sophie, who gets to do everything first.
The extended Toguchi family gathers each year to celebrate New Year’s Day. Some, like mean cousin Eddie and his family, just have to drive down from San Francisco. But beloved Obaachan flies all the way from Hiroshima, Japan. Sophie and Eddie, being the older cousins, are excited about the roles they will play this year, namely to help out with the preparations for mochi, a sweet and sticky rice dessert that traditionally is pounded by the men of the family and shaped by the women. This strikes Jasmine as unfair, so she sets out to prove to her family that she is strong enough to join in the task herself. She takes it upon herself to strengthen her muscles with weight lifting (with the baby cousins!) and hanging by her arms, but nothing seems to work. It’s a thin plotline with little tension, but to populate it, Florence paints a lovely picture of a warm, extended family whose members truly care about one another and take each other seriously. Black-and-white sketches, liberally sprinkled through 13 short, easy-to-read chapters, help make the story understandable for the newest readers. Children looking for a window into a Japanese-American family and its New Year’s customs will surely find one here. Book 2, Jasmine Toguchi, Super Sleuth, publishes simultaneously and perhaps will more fully develop its plot now that this effort has introduced the characters. A recipe for mochi is included.
New readers thirsty for series fiction will look forward to more stories about Jasmine and her family. (Fiction. 5-9)Pub Date: July 11, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-374-30410-2
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: April 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2017
It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists.
How to raise money for a coveted poster: put your friends to work!
John, founder of the FUBU fashion line and a Shark Tank venture capitalist, offers a self-referential blueprint for financial success. Having only half of the $10 he needs for a Minka J poster, Daymond forks over $1 to buy a plain T-shirt, paints a picture of the pop star on it, sells it for $5, and uses all of his cash to buy nine more shirts. Then he recruits three friends to decorate them with his design and help sell them for an unspecified amount (from a conveniently free and empty street-fair booth) until they’re gone. The enterprising entrepreneur reimburses himself for the shirts and splits the remaining proceeds, which leaves him with enough for that poster as well as a “brand-new business book,” while his friends express other fiscal strategies: saving their share, spending it all on new art supplies, or donating part and buying a (math) book with the rest. (In a closing summation, the author also suggests investing in stocks, bonds, or cryptocurrency.) Though Miles cranks up the visual energy in her sparsely detailed illustrations by incorporating bright colors and lots of greenbacks, the actual advice feels a bit vague. Daymond is Black; most of the cast are people of color. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists. (Picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: March 21, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-593-56727-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
The dynamic interaction between the characters invites readers to take risks, push boundaries, and have a little unscripted...
Reinvention is the name of the game for two blobs of clay.
A blue-eyed gray blob and a brown-eyed brown blob sit side by side, unsure as to what’s going to happen next. The gray anticipates an adventure, while the brown appears apprehensive. A pair of hands descends, and soon, amid a flurry of squishing and prodding and poking and sculpting, a handsome gray wolf and a stately brown owl emerge. The hands disappear, leaving the friends to their own devices. The owl is pleased, but the wolf convinces it that the best is yet to come. An ear pulled here and an extra eye placed there, and before you can shake a carving stick, a spurt of frenetic self-exploration—expressed as a tangled black scribble—reveals a succession of smug hybrid beasts. After all, the opportunity to become a “pig-e-phant” doesn’t come around every day. But the sound of approaching footsteps panics the pair of Picassos. How are they going to “fix [them]selves” on time? Soon a hippopotamus and peacock are staring bug-eyed at a returning pair of astonished hands. The creative naiveté of the “clay mates” is perfectly captured by Petty’s feisty, spot-on dialogue: “This was your idea…and it was a BAD one.” Eldridge’s endearing sculpted images are photographed against the stark white background of an artist’s work table to great effect.
The dynamic interaction between the characters invites readers to take risks, push boundaries, and have a little unscripted fun of their own . (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: June 20, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-316-30311-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017
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